News: Time to arm ships? (with poll)

This is a discussion on News: Time to arm ships? (with poll) within the In the News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly forums, part of the The Back Porch category; Originally Posted by paramedic70002
Convoys might not be a bad idea, as long as they have armed escorts.
How about pepper gas piped along the ...

How about pepper gas piped along the rail that shoots down the side of the ship when activated? Actually concentrated acid would be better but not from a PR standpoint. Napalm anyone?

Heat seawater with the engine heat and spray down the sides. That wouldn't cost too much and shouldn't hurt the environment too much. I would prefer they just arm the crew and lock the weapons before the dock if the port does not allow them.

True...but eventually they have to get out of their "mouse hole" to take over the ship...and then you own them. Let's be realistic...they're not trying to sink the ship. The ships are their golden parachutes. They're throwing enough firepower to help ensure everyone knows they mean business and don't fight back at least long enough for them to get on board. Once they're on board and meet a heavily armed resistance the balance shifts a little...

Don't get me wrong. I am all for allowing the crews of merchant ships to be armed. I just want it done correctly. Handing a bunch of sailors some m4s and shotguns just ain't going to solve the issue. In this case the defenders are at a great strategic disadvantage. Because you can't count on them not sinking the ship to prove a point, anymore than you can count on a mugger only wanting your wallet.

Now if you get some smallish boats, load them up with some light-medium armor and a few covered firing ports and you could easily give the pirates a total butt kicking. Especially if the people manning the smaller patrol boats have any combat experiance at all. Refueling and resupply could easily be done by the host ship, as could communication with the location of various inbound pirate ships.

What we need to do is push foreign ports to recognize ships as soverign territories of their flag countries. Right now, the issue is that a port won't allow any ship that has so much as a single-shot .22 rifle on board. Of course, its a big ship with plenty of hiding places, but when you have millions or hundreds of millions dollars worth of cargo on board, you don't want to run the risk of delaying your shipment or getting your contracted company in trouble.

Originally Posted by phreddy

Heat seawater with the engine heat and spray down the sides. That wouldn't cost too much and shouldn't hurt the environment too much. I would prefer they just arm the crew and lock the weapons before the dock if the port does not allow them.

Don't forget about dumping a 55-gallon drum of diesel fuel into the water, then setting it ablaze. Won't hurt any wildlife below the surface. However, I'm sure the environmentalists will have a hissy fit.

Being unarmed is only one part (small part) of the piracy issue. The routes that are taken and just the nature of the beast. I would imagine being armed might put a dent in the "increase" of piracy, but it may never cease.

Originally Posted by bandit383

...Arming the ships is a great emotional outcome....

Agree.

Originally Posted by bandit383

I say take the fight to them...but will be a stop gap measure. Send in a multi-national force to clean house....

If we are talking something like sending out preventative bounty hunters on ships, I'm for it. If we are talking US Navy to protect multi-national corperate assets, no, I don't like it.

Yes. I agree with Dr. Paul and his Letters of Marque approach, combined with arming the ships, and changing the nature of Naval patrols to keeping the larger ships, but having smaller, faster interceptor vessels that can operate around the larger ship. As it is, a giagantic destroyer against a little raft with some ancient outboard motor on it is not really the best way to be doing this. I think we may end up having to develop new tactics, since this certainly isn't conventional naval combat. In fact, its more like marine police work in a way.